"Seis consejos sencillos para aumentar la eficacia de las búsquedas de patente"

Resumen

En un artículo reciente, Design News proporciona útiles consejos para orientarse en el laberinto de las patentes a fin de obtener informaciones provechosas. El artículo se centra en la manera de efectuar búsquedas de patente utilizando la base de datos sobre patentes de la Oficina de Patentes y Marcas de los Estados Unidos.

Six Easy Steps to Highly Effective Patent Searching
You can speed up your design cycle time by mining patents for information. Here, a skilled patent attorney shares his secrets to faster and better searches.
Craig Fieschko -- Design News, June 6, 2005

A patent is often described as a monopoly (generally limited to 17-20 years) granted to the inventor of a new and useful machine, process, or other invention in exchange for the inventor's complete written description of how to make and use the invention in a patent application. These details can be highly useful to design engineers, who can use patents to learn how others have approached similar problems, what design strategies have and have not worked in the past, and to get a handle on what is state-of-the-art in their field.

But with almost 7 million U.S. patents covering virtually every field of technology, it can be a lot like trying to find a needle in a haystack to locate the patents that are most relevant to your design problem. In this article, I share some of the basic search strategies I use as a patent lawyer (and former engineer) to sift through the clutter.

This article assumes that you're using the search engines of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

First a Few Basics on Patent Searching
Some of my favorite patent-searching resources on the Web are listed in the sidebar, and the following discussion will assume that you're using the search engine of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the government agency that administers the U.S. patent system.

While you can simply enter a string of terms into the search engine and obtain all the patents or published applications that contain these terms, the USPTO's search engines, like most patent search engines, helpfully allow "fielded" searching. Terms can be entered in certain fields, such as Title, Abstract, Assignee (Owner), etc., to locate patents or published patent applications having the entered terms in the specified fields (in the specified sections of the patents or applications).

The USPTO also allows strings of fielded search terms to be connected with Boolean terms such as AND, OR, and ANDNOT, and parentheses can be used to order the connected terms (see a sample search on page 80). Additionally, the ends of search terms can be truncated and the "wildcard" symbol $ can be substituted to search for variants of the term. For example, "circuit$" will search for the terms circuit, circuits, circuitry, etc. (Note that a term may not be truncated to less than four characters.) Search terms can also be combined in strings by using quotation marks. For example, entering the term "circuit board" (in quotes) will search for the adjacent words "circuit" and "board," in that order.

It might seem that a good way of locating relevant patents is to search in the Abstract (ABST) and/or Title (TTL) fields. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Titles are usually vaguely worded because patent attorneys fear the potential ramifications of a specifically worded title. The same is true of most Abstracts, which poorly represent the contents of their documents.

So it's no surprise, then, that an Abstract and/or Title search should never be regarded as complete and accurate. A Specification (SPEC) search, which extends to the detailed bodies of the patents or applications, is far more complete. Nevertheless, if a search strategy results in a very large number of hits, it may be preferable to begin a search by limiting it to the Title (TTL) or Abstract (ABST) fields.

Other useful search fields include the Assignee (AN) field, which may list the owner of the patent, and/or the Inventor (IN) field. You may be able to find relevant patents by searching for those that name a company and/or inventor who has expertise in your field of interest.

Nevertheless, while the use of fields, Boolean connectors, and wildcards can help you locate relevant patents and applications faster, many people still find it difficult to generate relevant search results.

All patents and patent applications are assigned "class numbers" by the USPTO codes that classify the patent or application into one or more very particular fields of technology, similar to the Dewey Decimal System. So if you can identify the classes of your problem or technology of interest, and then use the USPTO search engines to search documents in these classes, you'll often find relevant documents much faster.

To identify U.S. classes for particular fields of technology, you can access the Manual of U.S. Patent Classification at www.uspto.gov/web/classification/. Unfortunately, most users find the manual confusing and difficult to use, and it usually takes significant experience before one can quickly and accurately locate the appropriate class(es) relating to a technology in question.

By following the six easy steps I have outlined on page 80, you can bypass the manual almost entirely (or at least minimize its use) and get superior search results immediately.

Now What?

Once you're done, you can then use the search results in your research and design efforts. In some cases, you may even be able to adopt a patented invention as an "off-the-shelf" solution. You're usually free to use matter described in a patent so long as:

(1) The matter is not secured by this (or another) patent (i.e., the matter is not defined by the "claims" set forth at the end of a patent); or

(2) Even if the matter is covered by the claims, if the patent's expired. Usually, patents have terms lasting 20 years from their patent application filing date, or 20 years from the date of patent issuance, whichever date is later. Both of these dates are shown on the first page of a patent. However, patents can (and often do) expire earlier for failure to pay periodic maintenance fees to the USPTO. You can check this out at the USPTO website at https://ramps.uspto.gov/eram/.

Nevertheless, if you have questions about whether and how you can use certain matter, you really should get the assistance of a patent attorney. As the old saying goes, "anyone who serves as his own attorney has a fool for a client."

Craig Fieschko has a BSME and MSME and worked for several years as an R&D engineer. He is a registered patent attorney at the DeWitt Ross & Stevens law firm, and he also teaches intellectual property law at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Request a more detailed version of the article by contacting Fieschko at cf@dewittross.com, or at (608) 828-0722.

Step-by-Step Guide to Patent Searching
In this example, we look for patents related to handheld, ultrasonic surgical cutting tools

On the USPTO's "Advanced Search" page, different fields are searchable by typing in a field code followed by a forward slash. The USPTO also provides a "Quick Search" page (not shown here), where a limited number of fields can be chosen from drop-down boxes.

Clicking "Search" will return the patent numbers and titles (or published patent applications) that match the specified terms in the specified fields. You can access the full text of a selected item by clicking on the document number or title.

Once you access the full text of a patent or application, you can get an "Image Copy" of the actual document (with drawings, etc.) either by using the "Add to Cart" option and paying to have it sent to you.

On the front page of a patent are relevant patent classes at the headings "U.S. Cl." (U.S. Classification), listing the classes of the patent [51] and [52], and "Field of Search," or related classes reviewed by the USPTO when granting the patent [58].

The USPTO Manual of Classification can be searched by entering terms of interest (at right) and then reviewing the resulting classes. Alternatively, you can enter a particular class (at left) and then review its description to see if it’s relevant (see figure below).

This is the "Class Schedule" resulting from entry of Class 604/22 in Figure (5), showing a description of Class 604/22 and its surrounding classes. Clicking the icon to the left of each class number will return a list of all patents in the class.

IDENTIFY A FEW STARTING PATENTS

Use fielded searching in the USPTO Issued Patent search engine (not the Published Application search engine) to locate one or more "starting patents" that have strong relevance to your technology of interest. You only need one (or a handful) of starting patents. See figures above, showing an exemplary search for a handheld, ultrasonic surgical cutting tool.

FIND UPSTREAM PATENTS

"Upstream patents" are prior patents that the USPTO regarded to be technologically relevant to the starting patents. These are listed on the first pages of the starting patents under the heading "References Cited;" see the list in Figure 4 under "U.S. Patent Documents," or in Figure 3, where the patent numbers of the upstream patents are provided as links, which allow you to quickly access their texts. Review the upstream patents and add any that are relevant to your list of starting patents. Note that only a few upstream patents are usually relevant to what you're looking for; the remainder were cited by the USPTO because they're relevant to some subcomponent or small feature of the starting patents.

FIND DOWNSTREAM PATENTS

"Downstream patents" are later patents having USPTO citations to the starting patents because the USPTO regarded the starting patents to be technologically relevant. If you're viewing the text of a patent, you can access downstream patents by clicking the "Referenced By" link. Alternatively, you can access the search engine query box and search in the Cited References (REF) field by entering "REF/" followed by the patent number of a starting patent. Review the downstream patents, and if any are relevant, add them to your list of starting patents.

ITERATE

A search for further upstream and downstream patents—by returning to the second step above—can often prove fruitful. By following this process, you're effectively building the "family tree" for the starting patents by locating patents cited in, or citing to, the growing list of starting patents.

IDENTIFY COMMON CLASSES

Look at your collected starting patents and identify which classes are cited most frequently on the first page. You can then get a list of all patents in a particular class by accessing the search engine query box and searching in the U.S. Classification (CCL) field. Then review these patents and save those that are of interest (and add them to your starting patents and return to the second step above, if desired). It may also be helpful to now access the Manual of Classification and look at the descriptions of your classes of interest, as well as adjacent classes, to verify that the classes seem relevant to the technology you're seeking.

SEARCH ON CLASSES

Take your classes of interest (as well as any search strings you used for fielded searching, etc.) and search for relevant published patent applications in the USPTO Patent Application search engine. To reduce frustration, note that some fields in the USPTO Patent Search Engine are different from those in the USPTO Patent Application Search Engine, and some seemingly identical fields behave differently (with the USPTO's "Help" link providing tips for usage).

Patent Lawyer Craig Fieschko's Bookmarked Sites
USPTO
www.uspto.gov

The USPTO provides a database of issued patents, and a separate database of published patent applications. (Since it generally takes over 18 months for an application to reach issuance, published applications provide a preview of soon-to-come patents). The site allows users to search the full texts of patents from 1976 onward and patent applications from 2001 onward, and limited searching of earlier patents. Drawback: While the full texts of patents and applications are available, image copies are only printable/downloadable one page at a time unless you pay for e-mail or postal delivery of image copies.

Freepatentsonline
www.freepatentsonline.com

Pat2PDF

www.pat2pdf.org

These two websites compile full PDF image copies of U.S. patents for free, making them far easier to print and download (and Freepatentsonline allows searching as well). Or, access www.pat2pdf.com (not affiliated with the .org site) to pay for full PDF's of both U.S. and European patents.

Freshpatents
www.freshpatents.com

Enter a search query, and you'll be sent regular updates of corresponding newly published U.S. patent applications.

European Patent Office
http://ep.espacenet.com

The EPO's esp@cenet patent database allows free access to the patents of most major patenting countries, though searching is crude and image copies are printable/downloadable only one page at a time. However, by accessing "Online Public File Inspection" at http://my.epoline.org/portal/public under the Products and Services menu, you can download full PDF copies of European patents, provided you have the publication/application number.

Delphion
www.delphion.com

One of the oldest and most powerful patent search engines, Delphion allows multiple databases (basically, all those noted above, and more) to be searched simultaneously. Disadvantage: Formerly free, now it's pay to play.

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Estudio de Caso: ¿Cómo hacer que los licenciatarios se interesen por un nuevo producto? - O. H. Products/APC Ltd.

¿Cómo hacer que los licenciatarios se interesen por un nuevo producto? - O. H. Products/APC Ltd.

DATOS DE LA EMPRESA

Empresa
O. H. PRODUCTS LTD./APC LTD
Localización
Irlanda
Sector
Atención sanitaria
Actividad
Diseño, puesta a punto y comercialización de un nuevo modelo de hilo dental
Número de empleados
2

Uno de los fundadores de la empresa es un dentista en ejercicio que ha diseñado un nuevo modelo de hilo dental con cabezal desechable y asidero de forma especial. El producto se concibió con el fin de mejorar los productos existentes en el mercado de manera que el usuario pueda llegar mucho más fácilmente a todos los dientes, lo cual quedó confirmado en un amplio programa de ensayos.

Como la mayoría de las principales empresas en este mercado son muy grandes, los inventores decidieron que la manera más adecuada de comercializar el producto era emprender un amplio programa de patentes y tratar de despertar el interés de los licenciatarios.

De este modo, crearon una empresa propietaria de la patente, APC Ltd. Como este ámbito está bastante bien cubierto por las patentes vigentes, fue necesario redactar muy cuidadosamente las especificaciones de la invención para poner de relieve las diferencias concretas entre su diseño y los anteriores productos patentados. Para ello, los inventores tuvieron que centrarse en determinados aspectos novedosos de su producto, y una vez realizada esa labor, obtuvieron una amplia cobertura por patente. Asimismo, lograron registrar la marca “INTERFLOSS”, que aunque no es descriptiva ofrece una idea de las características del producto.

Varias empresas importantes del sector sanitario manifestaron interés por obtener una licencia sin que se lograra alcanzar un compromiso definitivo. A ese respecto, los promotores vieron con claridad que tendrían que lanzar ellos mismos el producto para demostrar que se podrían lograr las ventas necesarias. En consecuencia, crearon la empresa de fabricación O.H. Products.

A pesar de sus limitados recursos financieros y de comercialización, en Irlanda y en el Reino Unido se obtuvieron las ventas necesarias para demostrar que el producto tenía un verdadero potencial en el mercado. Esto bastó para acrecentar el interés de las empresas interesadas en obtener una licencia. Con todo, la existencia de una amplia cobertura de los derechos de P.I. constituyó un factor fundamental en las consideraciones de los licenciatarios.

Recientemente se ha suscrito un importante acuerdo de licencia para el mercado norteamericano y se hallan muy avanzadas las negociaciones para concertar otro en el mercado europeo. Asimismo, se ha puesto en marcha un programa de patentes con el fin de proteger un nuevo producto más perfeccionado que abarcará algunos países que quedaron fuera de la cobertura del producto original. Por motivos comerciales y como parte de los acuerdos de licencia, se ha paralizado la actividad de la pequeña empresa de fabricación, pero las perspectivas que ofrecen las licencias son bastante halagüeñas.

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Estudio de caso elaborado en el marco del Proyecto LIPP.

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Opciones para el público que le permiten comentar acerca de las solicitudes de patente pendientes

La Oficina de Patentes del Reino Unido acaba de crear una nueva opción por correo electrónico con objeto de permitir al público formular comentarios sobre las solicitudes de patente pendientes. Esta iniciativa permite a los miembros del público interesados tener la posibilidad de afirmar la evidencia para ayudar a la Oficina de Patentes a decidir si una invención merece o no que se le conceda una patente.

Issued by Prowse & Co on behalf of The Patent Office
For more information please contact Deborah Fields or Kristina Crowe on +44 (0)1372 363 386 or Fax: +44 (0)1372 363 359.
E-mail deborah@prowse.co.uk or kristina@prowse.co.uk.

31 May 2005

Public have their say on patent applications
The Patent Office is providing new guidance and an e-mail option to help the public make comments on pending patent applications. If someone has evidence which will help the Patent Office decide if an invention is worthy of a patent, then they are encouraged to submit it.

So-called "section 21 observations" (named after section 21 of the Patents Act 1977) have always been accepted from members of the public who can help the Patent Office with their assessment of whether an invention is patentable. The Patent Office is now helping more people exploit this opportunity by explaining the simple procedures on its website, and launching an address for e-mail submissions.

Sean Dennehey, Director of Patents said: "This initiative is part of our continued effort to deliver greater quality and certainty in granted patents, and to give our customers new ways of dealing with us electronically. For people in business, concerned about a rival’s patent application, it means that they can give us evidence that will help ensure that patent protection is granted only for inventions which truly deserve it."

There is usually an interval of at least three months between the publication of a patent application and it being granted. This gives the public the chance to comment on the contents of an application. There is no fee to file observations on a patent application, and the person submitting evidence does not become involved in the examination process. Making observations before grant is therefore very simple, and certainly less costly than trying to attack a patent after it has been granted. And the new e-mail address makes it easier than ever to do.

The new guidance explains:

1.- How to identify and monitor cases on which to comment

2.- What comments and evidence are acceptable

3.- When and how to submit them

Editor notes:

1.-The new guidance is available from this web site.

2.-The address for e-mail submissions of section 21 observations has been set up under Directions made under section 124A of the Patents Act 1977. These Directions appear on this web site.

3.-Analogous procedures exist at the European Patent Office (EPO) which permit the public to file observations on applications pending at the EPO. Such observations can be made under Art 115 of the European Patent Convention (EPC). For people wishing to comment on European patent applications they can use the EPO’s Online File Inspection service to see what objections and evidence have already been raised

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Estudio de Caso: La evaluación de patentes en la empresa IP Bewertungs AG (IPB).

La evaluación de patentes en la empresa IP Bewertungs AG (IPB)
por Dirk Loop(1), Guido von Scheffer(2) y Stephan Lipfert(3)

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Búsqueda de patentes en línea – un cuento aleccionador: ¿Hasta qué punto están las búsquedas que usted realiza en línea libres de miradas curiosas?

Por Ian Cockburn(1)

¿Están las declaraciones de búsqueda sometidas a la divulgación pública de las bases de datos sobre patentes de invención?

Buscar o no buscar, ¿de eso se trata? ¿O se trata de otra cosa?

Quizás lo que habría que plantearse es lo siguiente: ¿Pueden la serie de preguntas utilizadas durante una búsqueda en línea considerarse como una divulgación suficiente para invalidar una patente? ¿Hasta qué punto están las búsquedas que usted realiza en línea libres de miradas curiosas? ¿Y en qué medida son sus búsquedas y series de preguntas de búsqueda accesibles por el público? ¿Cuán seguras son sus búsquedas salvaguardadas?

Desde hace unos años, el mundo se ha visto invadido por nuevos términos tales como el pirateo, la escucha clandestina, el husmeo, el engaño, la pesca de datos confidenciales en el sistema, todos ellos relacionados con la adquisición no autorizada de cierta forma de comunicación digital. La escucha clandestina electrónica se define como la vigilancia intencional de datos mediante la voz, el fax, el correo-e, los teléfonos móviles, los mensajes electrónicos, etc., frecuentemente con fines perversos, que permite al que escucha clandestinamente interceptar y registrar el intercambio de mensajes entre un cliente y un servidor.

Desafortunadamente, la interacción entre el que realiza la búsqueda y las principales bases de patentes ocurre en un entorno inseguro y los visitantes inescrupulosos de esos sitios pueden vigilar y rastrear esa interacción. El fenómeno por el cual se roba información no autorizada relacionada con un individuo o con una empresa está aumentando a un ritmo proporcional al acceso a las nuevas tecnologías digitales y a las bases de datos en línea. El mundo esotérico de las patentes y los activos intangibles no está libre de este fenómeno y la información, especialmente los datos relativos a las estrategias tecnológicas de empresas rivales, tienen un valor inmenso.

La capacidad de los piratas de interceptar series de preguntas de búsqueda en sitios poco seguros y, por consiguiente, revelar información sensible es muy real. Asimismo existe un verdadero peligro si usted formula una declaración de búsqueda completa a una base de datos públicamente disponible, de que esa declaración se convierta voluntariamente en una invención publicada. Si la declaración de búsqueda contiene detalles del objeto de la invención, el presentar esa declaración de búsqueda a un sitio como el de la USPTO, la OEP o el PCT puede resultarle fatal ya que le impedirá obtener y mantener derechos de patente válidos. Como mínimo se verán difundidos datos muy confidenciales sobre las orientaciones de su empresa, datos que pueden ser utilizados para reducir el tiempo entre la producción y la comercialización del producto o que pueden destruir ventajas tecnológicas duramente obtenidas gracias a la I+D innovadora.

Las patentes existen para proteger y comercializar la información técnica incorporada en los productos y procesos nuevos. Es preciso evitar los riesgos a que puedan estar expuestos esos activos. Por consiguiente, la serie de preguntas de búsqueda está en peligro de caer en el dominio público y de causar problemas futuros de patentabilidad, eventualmente provocando la invalidez de una patente; de ahí que si no se dispone de un período de gracia, quizás la mejor solución sea presentar una solicitud de patente provisional y efectuar la búsqueda posteriormente.

He aquí pues las ventajas que ofrece la presentación preliminar de una solicitud de patente provisional:

1.- Garantía de obtener derechos de patente seguros;
2.- Imposibilidad de que se produzca un daño a los activos de patentes por problemas de patentabilidad resultantes de una búsqueda;
3.- Aumento del valor comercial de la I+D para los investigadores;
4.- Menos riesgo de que un empleado resulte explotado o de que un tercero se apropie indebidamente de la invención.

Si usted desea formular comentarios o añadir elementos a lo arriba expuesto, puede escribir un mensaje electrónico a icockburn@piperpat.com para entablar un diálogo, o bien consultar a un profesional de la P.I. para elaborar la mejor estrategia de patentes que convenga a su empresa.

Descargo de responsabilidades: la empresa PIPERS se esfuerza por ser lo más exacta posible al preparar sus artículos y ha tomado todas las medidas razonables para garantizar que la información contenida en este artículo sea precisa. El contenido de este artículo es tan sólo con fines de información. Para cualquier aclaración, le recomendamos dirigirse a un profesional de la P.I. o escribir a http://www.piperpat.com/.

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1 El autor es Editor de páginas Web, Administrador en Publicidad y Mercadotecnia en PIPERS – Global, un bufete de abogados de patentes con oficinas en el Reino Unido, Nueva Zelandia, Australia, Singapur y Malasia. Las opiniones expresadas en este artículo son las del autor y no reflejan necesariamente las de la OMPI.

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